Volume I, Issue ii

COUNTER=4782

October 1998

From the Editor by Amy McWilliams

Welcome to the October issue of the General Hospital Review! We're thrilled that our first issue was received so well. In our first few days, we had reached 100 hits, and by the end of two weeks, we were up past 3000! When we closed the issue down for archiving, we had passed 5000 hits. We're glad you enjoy reading what we have such a good time writing, and we hope that this issue will be even better.

For the month of October we have an appropriately Halloween-y installment of "What's Cookin' on the Backburner" as well as several articles on various characters and storylines and a review of the episodes from August 17th through September 11th. While this month's fare is still written completely by the GHR staff, we have some contributions from other people in the works for issues this winter, as well as some new features we're developing.

I thought that I'd take a moment in this month's letter to talk about the feedback we've received so far. Overall, we couldn't ask for a more glowing response, and we thank everyone who wrote in and told us how much they liked our new project. We're sorry we don't have time to respond to you all.

There was one suggestion for improvement amidst all the cheers; one person wrote in and asked that we include more pictures. Since others of you may have shared that opinion, I wanted to explain the motivation behind the design of our review. As I said in my last letter, we are not your typical GH webpage in that we don't deal in scoops and spoilers, casting news, chat, etc. In addition, we are by choice a primarily text-based production, and there are a couple of reasons for that.

The first is file size. I have a large Geocities account, but each issue of the GHR takes up quite a bit of room, so I conserve space by keeping the photos to a minimum. More importantly, I want this review to be easy to read for as many people as possible--even the ones with slow connections or old computers. As we discussed the format of the review we were creating, one of my editors thanked me for creating a page that loaded quickly and easily on her slow system, one that was free of large or dense images, JavaScript, etc. I hope that it's the same for others. For the same reason, I defined a column width that's larger than the typical resolution for some people so that the text would be easier to read. I also chose not to dictate font size or style so that people wouldn't have to override my settings just to see things in a font they found readable. Finally, I'm working to streamline the navigation and file sizes for the episode reviews so that they too will be quicker to load.

The other reason is copyright concerns. Though we might never come to the attention of the powers that be who might request such material be removed, I would like to keep the content of the review out of the realm of blatant copyright violation as much as possible. The few pictures from the last issue that weren't taken on my camera are easily removed. I don't, however, want the design of the review--especially the front page--to come to depend on copyrighted material.

Finally, the General Hospital Review is meant to be read; it's meant to give you something to come back to for an entire month while you wait for the next issue. And we hope you do just that.

GH and PC in Review by Amy McWilliams

This issue's review covers 4 weeks on both of our soaps: August 17th to September 11th. Life intervened and I wasn't able to review the entire month of September; hopefully I'll "catch up" in the next issue and review the episodes through the end of October. While I've tried to reduce file size on these reviews by putting one family on a page, the navigation remains the same, and I hope that it's working for everybody.

Thanks again to Allyn Wilkinson for her GH Transcripts Page. I depend on her as well as the daily updates from the official ABC website and r.a.t.s.a. Thanks also to everybody on the GH side of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc for their discussion of the show.

Now and Then: Laura's Confessions by Amy McWilliams

The "Now and Then" column presents scenes and sequences out of the history of the show, primarily to explain, compare and contrast, or inform the present with the past. This month I take a look at the beautiful intertextuality in the series of confessions Laura has had to make to Luke and Lucky about her time on the Cassadine Island, beginning in the fall of 1996 and continuing to current episodes.

What's Cookin' on the Backburner by Judy Ellison

Judy Ellison's concoction is a fictional look at the characters who are, shall we say, not so busy right now. This month, she serves up a Halloween special of two Edgar Allan Poe parodies that are sure to spook ya!

The Floating Rib: When are the Dead Really Dead? by Arda Darakjian Clark

I named the "Floating Rib" column for a restaurant that appeared as a staple GH set back in the late '70s and early '80s. Its name fits the column that contains different types of writing. In this issue's first such column, Arda Clark examines the phenomenon in the soap opera genre of characters presumed dead. Her discussion of the four types of soap opera deaths includes Brenda on GH and other examples.

Small Things: Meditation on Peeling Paint by Teresa Leslie

Teresa Leslie's column focuses on the small, seemingly insignificant things on GH. When noticed and considered, however, these little details illuminate many things about the characters and plots. This month, she talks about the metaphor that the Spencer house presents of that family.

The Floating Rib: Justus Has Fallen and He Can't Get Up by Joan Roseman

In this article, Joan Roseman remembers the Justus that was and laments the Justus that is, giving us an account of the development of his character and pointing to the reasons the "new direction" has failed.

Featured Web Page: The City of Port Charles

Each month the General Hospital Review features one of the outstanding GH or PC web pages on the net. This month, the honors go to a page dedicated to both shows, The City of Port Charles. The page includes information on both soaps, including scoops, ratings, updates, news, cast information, message boards, chat, and more. Finally, the graphics, page design, and navigation help make the page a truly wonderful resource.

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